


Rivals.

by JustWriterThings



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: AU, Basketball, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 14:11:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4963711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustWriterThings/pseuds/JustWriterThings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Women's college basketball AU.</p><p>As the Cardinals advance in the tournament, team chemistry threatens to take the team down. Alex Morgan used to be a star, but now her rival Carli Lloyd has taken that position, and she's taken the one that Alex loves the most, Tobin Heath. But as things escalate in the locker room, Alex finds solace in a couple of friends she would never expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So I know I'm working on a couple other stories but I've wanted to do a college basketball AU forever and when I was looking at some NCAA tournament stuff, this idea came to my mind and I just had to write it. Enjoy! Also this will be shorter than my other stories.

There were six seconds left in overtime and there were looks of anguish across the faces of the bench. "I hope you all know that you've performed better than anyone expected. We might not get out of here with the win, but we tried our best," coach Jill said to her team as a timeout was called.

"Coach. Give me the ball. We're going to win this thing," Alex said firmly. There was a look in her eyes of pure motivation, pure drive. Like the only thing she wanted in the entire world was to win. It was a bit terrifying, to be honest, to see her even more motivated than she usually was on the court.

"You know we want to put the last shot in Carli's hands..."

"No. Give me the ball," replied Alex. "Give it to me in an iso and have everyone else draw the defense back, I'm going to win this for us."

And so as the Louisville timeout ended, they set up that play, Tobin inbounding the ball to Alex before running down the court. The clock started and they didn't have much time, but Alex put a killer crossover on the Virginia defender and ran past half court, before throwing up a deep three pointer at the buzzer.

It hit the backboard before bouncing up and in, and the building went nuts. Alex was almost in disbelief herself, she hardly celebrated. She just stood there while Hope and Ali and Carli embraced her and her teammates from the bench ran over to join the celebration. Everyone except a certain player, the one who hadn't spoken to Alex since an... Incident, one day prior. Tobin Heath. As the others celebrated joyfully, Tobin silently left the court, not wanting to hurt her friend by approaching her after what had happened. 

Yes, despite the win in the semifinals of the conference tournament, a rivalry was brewing in this squad, and the outcome would likely not be good for anybody.

\-----

One day earlier:

Practice for the Louisville Cardinals had ended and Alex Morgan was frustrated. Carli had only practiced for half as long as her and yet Jill gave all the praise to her. She talked about how great her shot form was, how much of a rebounder she was, and about how she was the best athlete on the team. Every time Jill complimented Carli and ignored her, Alex got a bit angrier inside. It was true, Carli was the better player, and Alex was suffering from a slump in form right now, but that didn't mean that Jill should forget about her.

"Are you okay?" asked Kelley, innocent and naive as usual. "You look like you might be sick."

Alex shook her head. "It's nothing. I just need rest," she lied, convincingly. 

Kelley nodded and Alex left the arena, making the short drive to the dorms and then heading to her room. "I'm just being stupid," she muttered to herself as she walked down the hall. How could she be so jealous of a teammate, and a teammate who was a friend, at that? She should be happy for her teammates... Right? 

Alex pushed open her door and went inside, flopping onto her bed. She was trying to pretend that everything was normal. That she wasn't secretly mad at Carli for taking her role as the star, and that she wasn't mad at Jill for letting her do it. Maybe hanging out with Tobin would help calm her down, it always did. Yes, she loved Tobin Heath more than anyone, and with Tobin's often flirting recently, she suspected that her friend felt the same way as her. When the NCAA tournament started, Alex was going to ask her to officially be her girlfriend. 

Alex called Tobin but the phone rang six times and then nothing happened. "I should check her room..."

As Alex headed to Tobin's room, she wondered what was up. She always answered her calls, had her phone died or something? But then as she grew closer to the door, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She could hear Tobin through the door, and she was... Having sex with someone? There were loud moans and Alex wanted to know what the hell was going on.

With no hesitation, she pushed open the door and stepped inside, moving to the bedroom to find Tobin in bed with the last person she ever wanted to see, screaming her name and enjoying every second of this. "How could you?" Alex blurted out, making them both jump in surprise and turn to her, scrambling to cover themselves up. 

"Lex! What are you doing here?" Tobin asked in panic, her eyes widening. 

"I called you and you didn't pick up, so I wanted to see where you were," Alex said. "But... I guess I'll leave you lovers alone," she added, her voice taking on a hurt tone. 

Tobin called for her to wait but it was too late, Alex was walking out, clenching her fists. So this was how it would be. Carli would be her rival on and off the court. "Two can play at this game," she muttered, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. She would use this as motivation, motivation to push herself to be better than Carli ever could be. This, was the start of the rivalry that would push Louisville to heights that they thought were impossible.


	2. Luck of the Irish, Part One

Alex Morgan was the first one to the gym for practice the day after the game but it didn’t matter. As shot after shot clanked off the rim for her, she felt her chances of surpassing Carli slipping away. That infuriated her. “Lex, why are you so pissed off?” Kelley asked. “You slept late, you skipped breakfast, now your face is going to go red if you get any angrier, what’s up?”

“It’s nothing you would understand, no offense,” Alex replied, taking a deep three pointer that missed the basket entirely, sailing into the stands. She was close with Kelley, but she really didn’t think that her friend knew about this budding rivalry, and she didn’t think she would be able to offer much help. 

“What wouldn’t she understand?” asked a voice behind Alex, who jumped when she was startled. Carli was there with her arm around Tobin’s waist, smiling slyly. Tobin looked nervous, like she was afraid to face Alex, but Carli showed no sign of that. They hadn’t talked properly since before the Virginia game, and Tobin wasn’t sure exactly how to explain her relationship with Carli to her best friend.

“Nothing. It was nothing,” Alex sighed. Carli shrugged and pulled off her track jacket, slipping on a practice jersey over her red undershirt before starting to warm up. Of course, even her warmups were better than Alex’s. While Alex had hardly been able to make shots, Carli went all out to impress her teammates.

“Is she a show off or what?” Alex muttered as Carli crossed over Christen and scored on a reverse layup. This was messing with her head, doing so badly and then seeing her rival doing better. And she still couldn’t get the memories from a couple days ago out of her head. She felt like every time she looked at Tobin, she could see her naked in bed, screaming Carli’s name. Everything about that seemed wrong to her… The only name she wanted Tobin to be screaming was hers.

“Alex, you look sick,” Hope commented. “You looked like that earlier, too, are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’ve been worse,” said Alex, turning to the steely eyed shooting guard. “I just need to take a break for a few minutes.”

“Yeah right,” she could hear Hope muttering, but she quickly ran off to the locker room bathrooms. Locking the door behind her, Alex leaned against the wall, trying to get herself composed. She was sick to her stomach, feeling like she might throw up at any moment. It was all because of Carli, she could manage to be fine after Carli took her role as captain following her injury, but she couldn’t hold herself together once Carli took the one person she loved. 

Why did she have to be with Tobin? She could probably get with anybody on the team, and out of everyone she chose Tobin. Sure, Alex wasn’t with her officially, but everyone could see how the two flirted, and Alex would have asked Tobin to make things official in around a week if Carli hadn’t interfered.

“It’s my own damn fault,” she said under her breath, lamenting that she had waited too long. Suddenly Alex was snapped out of her thoughts by a voice.

“Can I come in?” asked Kelley, and Alex opened the door to the stall to let her inside before slamming it shut again. 

“I owe everyone an explanation, don’t it?” Alex sighed, covering her face with her hands. 

“It would be nice to know what’s going on, yeah.”

Alex looked up and took a deep breath before starting to speak. “It started a couple days ago. Wait, no, it goes further than that. It started when I got hurt and Carli took over as captain, and then everyone decided to treat her like she’s the big star and forget about me. But that wasn’t what really made things bad. What really made things bad was that, a few days ago, I walked in on her hooking up with Tobin. The week before I was going to ask Tobin to be my girlfriend.”

Kelley had a blank look before frowning. “Have you told Carli that you had feelings for Tobin?”

“Hell no,” Alex replied. “She already knows. I know she knows, there’s no point in talking to her about it. I can’t even face her, Kelley, you don’t get it.”

Kelley put her arms around Alex in a comforting hug, as a single tear rolled down Alex’s cheek. “I’m sorry, I know how much you liked her,” Kelley said, her voice completely serious for once. “I think she liked you, too, even though she never admitted it. She might have thought that you didn’t return the feelings, and that’s why she started dating Carli.”

“I didn’t just like her, she’s the only one I’ve loved since me and Servando broke up… What do I do, Kell? What do I have to do to get her back?” Alex asked, crying some more. 

“Impress during the tournament. The world will be watching us, Alex. We have a chance to make history this season, and if you’re the best on the court, maybe you can impress her off of it,” Kelley suggested. 

Alex didn’t speak for a minute but then there was a renewed motivation in her eyes, the same sort as when she had hit the game winning three pointer earlier. “I’m going to do it… I’m going to go out there and dominate, I’m going to show that I’m better than Carli, and maybe then Tobin will finally love me…”

\-----

Louisville was in the ACC Tournament final against a Notre Dame team that was expected to demolish them. The game was in South Bend, too, and the atmosphere should have gave a large boost to the Irish. However, Louisville had something to play for, they would have much better NCAA tournament seeding if they won, while Notre Dame had already won the conference and wasn’t playing for much. 

With five minutes left, the game was closer than expected. Notre Dame had a five point lead, but Louisville was pushing them to the brink with an aggressive offense and a hard to stop fastbreak. Notre Dame’s star player was Adriana Leon, and she had scored twenty six points so far and had just extended the lead to five by making a long three pointer.

Hope however, scored quickly, dashing past the defense for a layup, and the pressure was back on the Irish. Adriana received the ball quickly but the pressure was weighing on her more than anyone, and she dribbled it off of her foot, and Alex went to the floor for the ball, recovering it and passing it to Ali, who had switched from center to power forward. 

Ali passed the ball to Carli in transition, who scored a layup to tie the game. Typical. Despite Alex being the one to hustle and dive for the ball, it was Carli who profited from it, who scored the game tying basket.

Alex pounded the ground in frustration before getting back up. She’d just have to work harder to outplay Carli. That was easier said than done though, but Alex was motivated again, which had worked well for her last time. 

\-----

The ball was in Alex’s hands again. Carli had received the pass originally but had gotten caught in the trap, being forced to pass out of it and give Alex the ball. There were eight seconds left, Alex cut around Hope’s screen and drove to the basket. She was about to get blocked, so she changed her shot, throwing up a wild layup that clanked off the rim. Alex wasn’t deterred though, there were three seconds left so she caught the rebound and took another shot, landing on her back as it went in and the buzzer sounded.

Louisville won, 102-100, and everyone swarmed around Alex, congratulating her on winning the game for them back to back times. Everyone was congratulating her, except for Carli and Tobin, who looked on with blank faces. Tobin’s face had slightly more emotion, she looked a little upset, maybe because of how Alex wouldn’t talk to her. 

That’s when Alex sat up and locked eyes with Carli, who knew good and well the reason why Alex was upset with her. The look on Alex’s face said everything: Carli was no longer the undisputed number one player on the squad. No, not on the court, or off of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm going to ask now, do you want to see Alex and Kelley or Alex and Hope?
> 
> ALSO should I show some of the story from Carli's perspective?


	3. Me or Her

The excitement from the game winner wore off quickly as Alex walked into her dorm, heading to the bedroom and flopping down on her bed. Kelley was on the other bed, watching an action movie on the one TV they shared. "Oh, you're watching Wanted," muttered Alex, rolling her eyes. "Fitting."

"Why? You don't like this movie?" asked Kelley, turning to face her. 

"It's OK but it's a downer movie... Spoiler alert, they all die in the end," Alex said. "Real life is depressing enough, I don't want to watch a sad movie too."

Kelley shrugged and tossed the remote to Alex, who began flipping through the channels. "Why are you so depressed? You won us the game... Again."

"And guess who the tournament MVP is? Carli fucking Lloyd. I'm never going to be the player I was before I got hurt, Kell," Alex sighed. 

"Not with that attitude... You wanna go drinking with the rest of the team? It might make you feel better, for a little bit at least."

Alex shook her head. "I think I should just stay here. Maybe in the morning I won't feel like crap."

\-----

“What do you know about Hope Solo?” Alex asked Kelley, as the two got dressed the next morning.

“She’s a transfer from Washington… A sophomore like us… She left Washington after getting into a huge fight with the coach. She lit the NCAA on fire during her freshman year, when she shot fifty three percent from deep,” Kelley said. “Why?”

“I have a text from her asking me to come to the gym… But we don’t even have practice today.”

“You should see what she wants, if she’s talking to you it must be important,” Kelley suggested. That was true, Hope rarely talked with Alex, as she was mostly an outsider on her new team. 

“I’m hoping that it is… Not worth skipping breakfast for otherwise,” chuckled Alex as she walked out and started heading to the gym.

She didn’t see Hope at first, but when she walked inside the building, she saw Hope shooting three pointers in rapid succession. “Hey, you wanted me?” asked Alex, and Hope stopped and turned around.

“Yeah. Your shooting form is terrible, I’m going to help you fix it,” Hope stated, matter of factly. “I watched some of your games from before you got hurt last year, you have to start shooting like you did then.”

“It’s not that bad,” Alex blurted out defensively, despite knowing that Hope was correct.

“Then why did you shoot thirty four percent last game? Sure you hit that last shot, but otherwise you were pretty bad,” replied Hope, shrugging. “I’m just trying to help so we don’t go crashing out in round one of the tournament because you thought you could shoot out of this slump.”

“Fine, what do I have to start doing differently?” asked Alex, taking a shot that hit the backboard. As soon as she did, Hope grabbed her arm, which felt strange. Hope wasn’t exactly a person who liked physical contact.

“Here’s what you’re doing wrong, you aren’t shooting at the right point in the arc,” Hope explained, moving behind Alex and guiding her arm to show her the proper motion. “When you hit your highest point, that’s when you let the shot go.”

Alex, despite not having feelings for Hope, lost focus, her heart racing at her touch. She hardly knew this girl, why was she reacting this way? “What?”

“I said you’re shooting too high or too low in your jumpshots. You have to release the ball as you hit the highest point in your jump,” Hope explained again, taking the ball and demonstrating for Alex. “It’s not something easy to pick up, the only way to learn is to practice and to take tons of shots. When I was in high school, sometimes I would take one or two hundred three point shots every day to train.”

“That’s going to take forever,” groaned Alex, surprised at Hope’s work ethic. She had always seen her as the outsider who was a shady character, having left Washington under the circumstances that she did. However now she was seeing how much of a competitor she was, and that made her see herself in Hope.

“We’ve got all day,” Hope replied, and Alex knew there was no getting out of this training.

\-----

Carli Lloyd was living the life, so to speak. She was the team captain and the leading scorer and the ACC Tournament MVP, in only her second year playing in college. And she was finally with her high school teammate, Tobin Heath, who had been her friend for pretty much forever.  
“Are you awake?” asked Tobin, who was in bed with Carli, spooning with her arm around Carli’s chest and her leg on her hip. 

“Yeah, barely,” muttered Carli before laughing. “I’m still sore from yesterday, but at least we get to sleep in this morning.”

“We’ve been sleeping in enough,” Tobin said, grinning. “It’s noon already and we aren’t even out of the bed.”

Carli sat up, moving Tobin to do so. “Yeah, you want to get lunch? I guess it’s too late for breakfast.”

“I, um… I want to talk to Alex first, before it gets too late,” answered Tobin. “She isn’t talking to me anymore, I think she might be upset about us.”

Momentarily Carli frowned, knowing that Alex had the hots for Tobin. She didn’t really want her rival to be talking up her girlfriend. But then she just shrugged. “She did see some things she can’t unsee, I’m not surprised,” Carli laughed.

“I thought she would be happy for me to finally be dating someone, but now I don’t know,” Tobin sighed. “Some best friend she turned out to be…”

Carli pulled Tobin closer to her, kissing her forehead. “Tobs, it doesn’t matter what she thinks about your dating choices,” she said, using the nickname that previously only Alex had called her. “If she’s gonna make a big deal out of this, maybe you should just stop being friends with her.”

This was, of course, a strategic move by Carli. She knew that if Alex wasn’t friends with Tobin, she wouldn’t have any competition for her love. 

Tobin looked like she might consider it, but deep down she was determined to try and get her former best friend back. “Yeah. Maybe. Let’s see what she says today first. And why are you guys so hostile? Last time I checked, she was your friend too.”

“Emphasis on was,” muttered Carli, getting up. “I didn’t do anything to her, she’s the one who started acting weird.”

Even though Tobin just wanted her best friend and her girlfriend to get along, she knew that it was true, that Alex had made things get… Weird, between her and Carli. After her injuries, that was when it had started. “Is it too much to ask for to have a best friend and a girlfriend who aren’t on the verge of fighting each other all the time?”

“Hey, if she apologizes, then fine. But I’m not going to apologize to her or anything, I did nothing wrong. It’s me or her, Tobin, I have a feeling you won’t be able to keep both of us,” Carli sighed.  
Tobin thought long and hard. And then she said three words that she would remember, and maybe regret, for a long time. “I want you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since there was a little bit of Alex and Hope in this chapter, you'll see some Alex and Kelley in the next one. Also maybe you'll learn some more about Hope's past in the next one? *hint hint hint*


	4. The Promise

_It was a warm morning, as typical for Kentucky, but instead of sleeping in like she wanted to do all summer, Alex Morgan was arriving at the University of Louisville, to check out the school that was number one on the list of colleges she wanted to attend. As she stepped foot onto the campus, saw the regal stone halls and the surroundings that were just about to turn orange from the fall, she almost felt breathless. She felt like she had made it, all her hard work had paid off in the form of getting an offer to go to this school, and many others._

_“Are you here for a visit also?” asked someone behind her, and she turned to see an athletic looking girl wearing a Georgia Bulldogs sweatshirt. “Oh wait, I recognize you. You’re Alex Morgan, the five star recruit, right? The one who’s supposed to get drafted number one in a few years?”_

_Alex nodded, grinning. “Yep, that’s me. Going number one is pushing it a little though.”_

_“I’m Kelley O’Hara, I’m going to be your backup for a couple years until you inevitably go pro,” laughed the girl. “Don’t worry, I’m fine with it. Getting free college just for sitting on a bench is fine by me.”_

_The two were interrupted when another girl approached. This, however, wasn’t a student. She was too athletic to be a normal student, no, this was one of the Louisville players. “Hey guys, I’m Carli Lloyd, coach wanted me to show you two around. I play power forward on the team here, I was a redshirt last season.”_

_Even though Carli had been redshirted because of injury, both Alex and Kelley were kind of starstruck from being around the number one recruit from last season. Alex was surprised though to find that she was actually pretty down to earth, she didn’t have the ego that some top recruits had._

_After spending the day touring the campus and town with Carli and Kelley, and hanging out with some of the other Cardinals players, Alex knew that she was going to commit to Louisville. She had visited Cal, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, and UCONN, but there was something about this place that attracted her, probably the team here. She fit in more here than anywhere else, and everyone was telling her that she’d play tons of minutes from her freshman year on and that she would be a legend if she stayed all four years._

_“You’re going to be the star of our team if you commit, Alex,” Carli told her as they were getting ready to check out a sorority party. “Probably captain, too, considering that we have no seniors on this year’s team.”  
“Really?”_

_“Yeah. I promise,” Carli replied calmly, and that was when Alex made her decision. If only she knew that it was a promise that Carli couldn’t keep.  
_

\-----

“Hey Kelley, you were with me when I visited Louisville before signing, right?” asked Alex as she and Kelley changed in their room. 

“I think so, that was when Carli showed us around and we went to that crazy party, right?” replied Kelley, nodding.

“And that was also when she told me a big lie to get me to commit,” Alex sighed, thinking back. “She told me I’d be the star and team captain, and she told me that I would be the program’s best player if I stayed all four years.”

Kelley frowned for a minute before shrugging. “That’s unfair to her, she couldn’t know that you were going to tear up your knee in our first year. And it’s not her fault that coach takes such a liking to her.”

Alex suddenly grew very angry, very fast. “Unfair? Unfair? Do you know what’s unfair? Having someone promise you that you’ll be the captain and then having them take that spot for themselves! You know what’s unfair? Having that same person take the only one you’ve ever really loved, that’s not fair! Do you want to know what else isn’t fair? That I came down how I did on that block, when I tore my MCL. I was set to be the number one pick, to be the greatest ever, and then on that _ONE_ play, it all fell apart! _That, is unfair!_ Not me complaining because someone I thought was my friend lied to-”

Kelley cut off Alex, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Lex, I didn’t mean to accuse you of being unfair…”

“That’s _EXACTLY_ what you just did,” Alex said bitterly, lowering her head. “I shouldn’t have blown up on you. I’m sorry…”

Kelley leaned back on her bed, sighing. “Really, I’m the one who should be sorry. I wouldn’t know much about being a star, I mean, I was a three star recruit in high school and I’m your backup now.”

“Thanks for being my friend, Kell, even when I act stupid. I thought that friend was Tobin, but it turns out it was you after all.”

Kelley turned to face Alex, who had also laid down on the bed. “I think you’ll get over Tobin, eventually. There’s more fish in the sea, like everyone says. There’s plenty of guys and girls out there who would love to be with you, if you’re observant enough.”

“Oh really?” laughed Alex. “Anyone in specific you have in mind?”

“Now that you mention it, I _do_ know a single girl who also goes to Louisville… She’s had a crush on you since you were in high school, actually,” Kelley answered, grinning. “She’s a sophomore, too, the same age as you.”

“Who is it?” asked Alex, her interest rising. She wasn’t likely to date anyone soon after what had happened with Carli and Tobin, hell, she still thought of Tobin all the time and she was nowhere near over her, but she wanted to know who had a crush on her.

Just as Kelley was about to reply, Sydney burst into the room. “Are you guys coming to watch the selection show with us? Me, Hope, Ali, and Ash were going to watch it together, we have room for a couple more.”

Alex groaned, wishing that Sydney hadn’t cut off Kelley. “Am I interrupting something?” Sydney asked, noticing the miffed looks on both of their faces.

“Nah, we’ll come. Even though judging by my luck, I’m only going to jinx this,” shrugged Alex, but in the back of her mind she still wanted to know who was crushing on her since high school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hinting intensifies in this chapter!
> 
> But with the selection show, things will get real in the next chapter, and we'll get to see more of Alex's past :D


	5. Early Vacation

_  
“Do you know what you did?” asked the police officer, staring at Hope Solo. Solo, slightly taller than the short female officer, stared back at her, before shrugging, almost nonchalantly._

_“What?” asked Hope, her hands in her hoodie pockets to stay warm. It was late at night, even colder than it usually was for Washington. Behind her was her wrecked car, much of the front of the car caved in from the crash, the windshield shattered. She still had blood trickling down her face from a cut she had received on the forehead from the shattered glass, but she didn’t show any sign of being in discomfort. No, she was far too tough for that._

_“You were drinking underage, and you were driving drunk. Do you know what that could have led to?” asked the cop, still keeping her hard gaze on Hope._

_“What?” Hope repeated, casually. She took her hands out of her pocket and folded her arms, frowning._

_“You could have killed somebody-” the officer started, but Hope grinned when she saw a silver Saad approaching._

_“Oh, that’s my ride, I have to go,” she said, walking away and getting into the car as the officer protested and demanded that she came back. In retrospect, it wasn’t the drunk driving incident that had gotten her dismissed from Washington. It was this, how she handled it._

_“You’re crazy,” muttered Hope’s teammate that was in the car waiting for her, as she slammed the gas and drove off._

_“So they say…” chuckled Hope, pulling out her phone and seeing a new text. From coach. He wanted to speak with her, word apparently traveled fast around here. “Wow… I might be packing my bags soon.”_

_She was right. It only took two days for Hope to be officially dismissed. Her scholarship was gone, too, and her parents didn’t have the money to pay for her to stay at Washington beyond her freshman year. But one door closing so to speak was just opening another door. A door that would lead to more glory than the first one ever could have led to.  
_

\-----

“Where the hell are they ranking us?” Alex asked frustratedly as Arizona was given the eleventh seed in the West. “I know we almost had a losing record, but damn…”

“Maybe they’re putting us in the East or the Southwest, those regions are in name only,” suggested Hope. “When I was at Washington, we competed in the Southwest region in the tournament even though we were from the Northwest.”

But Alex’s jaw dropped when she saw that Louisville was seeded twelfth in the West. “No. Fucking. Way.”

Ali sighed and rolled her eyes. “The serial underrating of our team continues,” she muttered, frowning. “I guess we just have to show them that they were wrong by knocking off… Baylor. They’re the one’s we’re playing.”

Everyone groaned. “The same Baylor that knocked off Notre Dame that year? The one that went forty and oh? That’s sitting at only five losses right now? We’re doomed,” Ashlyn said, resting her head on Ali’s shoulder. 

“The silver lining is that vacation starts early for us,” muttered Alex. She was pretty dejected, knowing that they would have a near impossible first round matchup. 

“Hey, we weren’t supposed to beat Virginia, right? We can beat Baylor too,” Kelley replied, putting her arm around Alex in a way that would comfort her. Naive as usual, she didn’t notice the dirty look that Hope was giving her.

Nobody made much of it though, because Hope was usually pissed off over one thing or another. She demanded a lot from her teammates, and when she didn’t think they were matching her level of commitment, she was prone to getting angry at them.

Hope sighed and got up and left, confusing most of the others. “What’s up with her?” asked Syd, and Alex just shrugged.

“Don’t mind her, she’s literally always mad at us… Well, except me, I don’t know what I did to make her start acting nice to me,” said Alex, before getting up to follow Hope.

“Hey! Hope, what’s wrong?” she called, making Hope turn to her in the hallway. “You looked pretty upset.”

Hope opened her mouth to speak but then paused, like she was weighing her words. “I’m upset because I came here thinking I would get to do something big, and now we’re about to go home in round one. Look, I have faith in our team, but Baylor is on a different level. They’re only seeded fifth because of injury stuff that will probably not have that big of an effect by the time the tournament actually starts.”

“What’s happening with you? I’m supposed to be the pessimistic one and you’re the one who tells me that we’ll win, what’s going on?” asked Alex. 

“It’s personal stuff, okay? Leave off,” Hope answered forcefully, and Alex knew better than to push it. “Don’t you and Kelley have something to do?”

“I… Uh... No,” muttered Alex, hanging her head and walking away. Something about Hope intimidated her into forgetting all her words. But then, in the hall, she ran into someone she really, really, really didn’t want to see. Tobin Heath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Hope upset? The answer may surprise you! You'll find that out later, for now there's a dramatic next chapter coming up where Alex finally speaks with Tobin.


	6. Secret Admirer

Alex and Tobin locked eyes, and it was as if they were never friends. They looked at each other like strangers, or maybe acquaintances who sometimes saw each other but didn’t make it a habit to talk. “Tobin,” Alex eventually said simply, frowning.

“Alex, I want to talk to you about something…” Tobin replied, cautiously. 

“About what? About how you’re fucking my biggest rival? I already know, Tobin, it’s not going to do us any good to talk about it,” Alex blurted out, surprised at the force in her voice.  
“Why are you so upset? Why aren’t you happy for me?” asked Tobin, looking to be on the verge of tears. “When I told you I liked girls, you said you were happy about it, what changed?”

Alex facepalmed, trying not to get angrier than she was already. “It’s not about liking girls, it’s about liking _her_! Of everyone you could get with, you picked Carli!? You… You picked her over _me_!?”

“Wait… You… Liked me?” Tobin asked, shocked. Clearly, she didn’t realize this before. “But… How? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was going to, but I wanted to wait for the regular season to end so it wasn’t a distraction for you,” sighed Alex, leaning against the wall. “That, and I couldn’t decide how to tell you.”

“You shouldn’t have waited, Lex,” Tobin replied. “I already decided to be with Carli, and now it’s too late. Way too late.”

As they were talking, Carli approached, wrapping her arms around Tobin’s waist and pulling her into a kiss, as if she was showing Alex that they were still together. Alex’s face went white, and suddenly she felt physically sick again. Without a word, she ran off while Tobin and Carli were still kissing, not being able to take the sight of it. 

\-----

The next day, Alex stayed late in bed, skipping practice. She had told Kelley to tell everyone that she wasn’t feeling good, which she wasn’t. She had barely slept last night, not being able to stop thinking about Tobin. Oh, how she longed to see her best friend’s smile again. To feel her warm touch, to hear that laugh of hers. It was driving her crazy to be apart from her for so long, even though it really wasn’t that long.

“Morgan, are you awake?” asked a familiar voice, Hope, and Alex sat up.

“Huh? Yeah, I just feel sick today, that’s all,” Alex answered, turning to see Hope standing in the doorway. “Don’t you ever knock?”

Hope shrugged and gave a half smile. “Not really. Look, Kelley told me why you’re so upset. I know, love hurts… It’s not my first rodeo, I’d know. But if you miss practice, that’s not going to help you at all.”

“What are you playing at?”

“I’m saying I need someone to shoot a hundred jumpers with today, and Kelley bailed on me again,” Hope said, and Alex got out of bed, knowing that she wanted her to help. It was kind of an awkward moment, as Alex covered her exposed chest before pulling on a shirt that was lying on the floor. Hope had seen her naked before in the locker room, but somehow it was much more awkward when it was only the two of them.

“Ugh, fine… On one condition,” Alex said as she walked out of the room. “You have to tell me why you left Washington.”

Hope frowned as they walked to the gym. “Why would you want to know that?”

“Because as tough as you talk, I know that deep down something is bothering you,” replied Alex. “And I have the feeling that the ‘team rules violation’ that got you kicked off the team is bigger than it sounds.”

“So you really want to know, you really want to know what makes this time bomb tick…” muttered Hope, turning the gym lights on and pulling on a warm up jersey. “Well, what if I told you that everyone can’t come from a normal family like yours? That my family never really cared about me, and that I was always the family screw up?"

Alex stayed silent, not knowing how to react. She wanted to comfort Hope, but Hope wasn't the type to accept her pity. "Was it really that bad?"

"Yeah," nodded Hope, shooting a three pointer that went in perfectly. "My brother used to be that, but somehow I messed up enough in high school and college to make him look like a perfect child. Got into some stuff I shouldn't have, ran with the wrong crowds, and before I could see what was happening, I was out at Washington."

"The wrong crowds? Were your teammates a bad influence or something?"

"You could say that. They introduced me to drinking, yeah. The thing that got me kicked out was drunk driving... After I was out way too late partying with my team," sighed Hope. "I crashed my car, somehow I got out without a scratch but coach was furious. Two days later and I was on the street, having to go back to my parents and explain how badly I messed up."

"We all make mistakes," Alex said, attempting to sound comforting. "You don't seem like a bad person to me."

"Yeah, well you weren't around me in high school," Hope rued, missing a shot. "That's a story for another day, you asked about Washington so I told you about Washington. Now, are you going to stand there or actually practice?"

Annoyed at how cagey Hope was being, Alex quickly took a three point shot, trying to do better than her. It clanked off the rim, not having a chance of going in. "Remember what I showed you?" Hope asked. "You're still shooting at the wrong time."

"This is stupid," sighed Alex. "I don't even need to shoot three pointers, I'm the only one on this team who can actually dunk..."

"Oh really?" asked Hope, raising an eyebrow. Alex just nodded and took the ball, running to the hoop and rising into the air, cocking her arm back before slamming the ball into the rim and hanging on it for two or three seconds, as if to prove her point.

She wished she hadn't done that. "Oh no," she muttered as she started to fall at a bad angle, the shock of the fall going into her ankles and knees. For a minute she feared that her MCL had exploded again, like it had in her freshman year.

"Alex!" Hope cried out, her usually calm voice sounding worried. Alex was on the ground, clutching her knee and rolling around in pain. "This is all my fault, I never should have dragged you here when you were feeling sick."

"If... I wasn't trying to show off... By hanging on the rim... This wouldn't have happened," Alex sighed through gritted teeth. "Get Kelley, she'll know what to do."

\-----

"It's not quite torn, I don't think it is anyway," said Kelley as Alex laid on her bed, in pretty bad pain. "It'll hurt a lot for today though. What did you do, even? You skipped practice, right?"

"I was stupid, Kelley," Alex muttered. "I wanted to show off for Hope so I dunked and hung on the rim, and then my hand slipped and I fell awkwardly."

Kelley looked like she was going to get mad at her but she just nodded. "You're probably out for the Baylor game. I'm sorry, Lex. You'll need to stay in bed and rest."

Alex groaned, but she was expecting that. "Of course I do... I wanted to go to that party tonight but I somehow managed to screw that up too..."

Kelley laughed and she looked like she was thinking of something for a minute. "You think this is funny?" Alex asked, rolling her eyes.

"Oh no, I'm laughing because the girl I told you about earlier was going to ask you to go to that party with her," Kelley replied. "She's so into you, Lex, she just doesn't know how to say it."

"Really? Do I know her already?"

"Actually, yeah. You might consider her a friend," said Kelley, grinning. 

Alex thought for a second before shrugging. "It's Syd, isn't it?"

"Nah, she's still straight as an arrow. But hey, if you ever wanna go on a date with a girl who you know loves you, I can set you two up," chuckled Kelley. "She's the one who left those roses in your locker, you know."

Alex remembered that. It was early in her freshman year and she had received a bunch of roses in her locker, along with a romantic note from an unknown lover. She had originally assumed it was from Tobin, but Tobin knew nothing about it and Alex never found out who her secret admirer was. "I'll think about it," she shrugged. "I'm not over Tobin yet... But when I am, this girl sounds nice. Whoever she is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so I'm thinking of doing this unorthodox ship(that's not in the tags) that's going to make everyone mad but will be entertaining at least. Anyone want to take a shot at guessing which ship it is? (And it isn't Krolo, that's been done already XD)


	7. Highway Robbery

_Alex Morgan put her heart and soul into her game. She went as hard as possible, every minute of every game, but sometimes she went so hard that her body couldn't handle her intensity._

_That happened in a game against Syracuse last year. She was chasing down an opposing player, after Hope had turned the ball over, she went up to block the shot on the other end of the court, and she successfully slapped the ball against the glass and away from the net. However she landed badly and her MCL, in the words of the physio, "exploded", sending her to the ground in pain._

_Kelley was the first one to her side, followed by the rest of the team, but it was clear pretty soon that she was out for the season because of this injury. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, squeezing Kelley's hand as her friend helped her up._

_Yes, her own intensity was her downfall, she played so hard that she failed to look out for her own body.  
_

\-----

Alex couldn't believe she was doing this, but she was heading to Syd and Pinoe's 'business' to find out more about Hope. This business as they called it, was run out of Syd's room, and they charged money to hear about the campus tumors and things like that.

"C'mon guys, can't you tell me for free? What ever happened to teammate discounts?" she asked, and Sydney grinned.

"We are giving you a discount, that's why we're only charging you fifteen bucks instead of twenty," laughed Pinoe.

Alex groaned but handed over the money. "Fine, fine. Now, what do you know about Hope Solo?"

"She was kicked out of Washington for drunk driving," said Sydney, and Alex nodded.

"What about before then?" 

"I overheard Carli saying she ran dope in high school, we don't know the details of that, though," Pinoe said. "We also know that she had a girlfriend who broke up with her by text message, that's all we know, really."

"Thanks, that's not much but I'll ask her about that," sighed Alex. "There's also something else I came to you two for. If I had a secret admirer, would you be able to help me figure out who it is?"

Syd and Pinoe exchanged a glance before Syd grinned again. "That's going to be fifty bucks," she said, and Alex's jaw nearly dropped.

"You two are insane, that's not even business, that's plain robbery," she remarked. "I think I'll just figure it out myself."

\-----

Carli's performance versus Baylor could be summed up in one word: domination. She finished with thirty one points, ten rebounds, and six assists, as Louisville shocked the Bears 109-105. Hope also had a big game, scoring twenty nine points and getting ten assists. 

As happy as Alex was about the win, it was hard for her to watch Carli dominate so much as she was forced to sit on the bench because of her injury. She was well enough to walk around but not well enough to play, and one of the worst feelings to her was the feeling of helplessness that being injured brought. 

While the rest of the team went out to town to party, Alex went straight back to her hotel room, lying down and hoping she could go to bed quickly and forget about earlier. Unfortunately, Kelley wasn't going to let her just fall asleep. "Hey Lex, why aren't you coming to celebrate with us?"

"Why do you think?" Alex asked, feeling pretty depressed right now. "Why would I want to go out and third wheel with Carli and Tobin?"

Kelley frowned, desperately trying to come up with something comforting to say. "I think you need someone to date so you won't feel awkward being around couples."

Alex was going to dispute this, but then she nodded. "Yeah. I do need someone. That girl you told me about, how about you set us up for a date tomorrow?"

Kelley smiled and pulled out her phone, getting ready to arrange things. "Yeah, she's not going to be able to believe it." 

"Who is she, anyway?"

"Patience, Lex, you'll find out tomorrow," chuckled Kelley, sending a text to whoever this girl was. 

\-----

The next day, Alex was totally panicking, not knowing what to wear on her date. They were in Seattle because of the tournament game, and Alex was going to meet her admirer at a place called Fuel, that was a decently popular bar and restaurant around here. She eventually decided on a casual outfit, a pair of faded jeans and a Louisville Basketball tee shirt, but now she couldn't decide what to do with her hair. "Should I wear it up or down?" she asked, with it up right now.

"Either way is fine but you look hot when it's down," replied Kelley, before blushing and covering her mouth like she had said something bad. "I mean, I'm sure your date will think you look hot with it down."

Alex blushed before putting her hair down and grinning. "Thanks, Kell," she said, looking herself over in the mirror one more time. "It's almost time, I better get going."

She was finally ready, finally ready to give someone other than Tobin a chance. She just hoped that that someone, that special someone, would treat her better than Tobin had recently. 

It was strange that she didn't even know the girl's name, but that only added to the intrigue, made her more appealing. Whoever it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's Alex's date? You'll have to wait and see!


	8. A Friend In Need

As Alex waited for her date to arrive, she began to think that she was getting stood up. How much longer was she going to have to wait? So when Kelley showed up, she was wondering what was going on. "Hey Kell, did my date bail on me or something?" she asked as Kelley sat across from her by the window.

"You're looking at her," Kelley laughed, a wide smile spreading across her face.

"What?" asked Alex, not really believing it. How could her best friend be her secret admirer? 

"I'm your date," Kelley said, and now it made some sense. That was why Kelley wouldn't say the name of the girl, that was why she pushed Alex so much to set up this blind date. 

"That's... Uh... Surprising," chuckled Alex, feeling unsure about this. She didn't want to date her best friend, really, because if it went badly, she'd be risking their friendship. But… Kelley did seem to really like her, and as she thought back a bit, she realized that. Kelley holding hands with her whenever possible, always being the first one to check on her if she thought she was hurt, the awkwardness if Alex ever asked Kelley who she liked. She also noticed something in Kelley’s eyes for the first time: desire. Again, it made more sense when she thought about it more. when she realized that the reason Kelley never made a move for her earlier was because she was so into Tobin.

“I thought you might have seen it coming, to be honest,” said Kelley, but Alex shook her head.

“Nope, there’s no way I saw that coming. I mean… How long have you been in love with me?” she asked, still kind of in shock. 

Kelley blushed and scratched the back of her head, almost embarrassed. “Since… Uh, since that time we played against each other in AAU, and I missed the game winner and you comforted me.”

Alex remembered that now that Kelley mentioned it. She hadn’t known Kelley’s name back then, but she did remember her missing a game winning layup, and she remembered comforting her after a lot of her teammates had turned their backs on her. 

“It was no problem, it wasn’t fair how your teammates were acting,” said Alex. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner, though?”

“I wanted to, but I knew how much you liked Tobin, and I just wanted you to be happy,” Kelley answered. 

It was at that moment that Alex realized Kelley really loved her, she had to love her if she was willing to put her own interests aside because she knew she liked someone else more. And even though it shocked Alex, she was starting to love Kelley, even if she'd never admit it now.

\-----

It wasn't a good day for Hope Solo. Her parents were talking to her in person for the first time since she left Washington, now that she was back home in Seattle, and she didn't think she could take much more of them talking about how disappointing she was.

"If you guys think I'm so disappointing, why do you even want me around?" she asked, sighing with exasperation. 

They were silent, knowing that they pushed her too far, and with that, Hope left and went back to the hotel. 

Her day didn't get much better from there. After taking ten minutes to get herself together, she decided to ask Alex if she wanted to train with her, thinking that practicing would help her forget the previous conversation. It always did. 

But when she went to Alex's room to ask her, she saw something that she really didn't want to see. Alex and Kelley in bed, Alex on top, making out, quite passionately. Hope didn't know how to react, so she just watched, before turning to go. 

"Hope, what are you doing here?" she heard Alex ask, and she turned to face them. She must have made too much noise leaving. 

"I... I wanted to know if you wanted to train, but apparently you're already busy," Hope said coldly, her grey eyes unreadable. She almost sounded mad, but most of all she seemed upset.

"Hope, wait!" Alex shouted as Hope ran off, heading to her own room and slamming the door shut. Alex could hear her crying through the door, and she sighed, knowing it would be near impossible to get her to open up when she was like this. 

Hope actually opened the door, though, pulling Alex inside before slamming the door again. "Why are you here? Go make out with Kelley or something..." she said, her voice shaky and her face streaked with tears. This wasn't just about Alex and Kelley, that was obvious, but seeing that seemed to push Hope over the edge, making her snap.

"You're my friend, Hope, did you think I was going to let you just run off like that? Start from the beginning, what's wrong?" asked Alex, putting a hand on Hope's shoulder.

"No, you wouldn't... you couldn't understand," Hope replied, looking more unstable than Alex had seen her before. "Go, go away and leave me alone," she added, and Alex knew it was best to listen.

She wanted to help her friend, she just didn't know how, so she turned and left, the feeling that she was a terrible friend growing with each step she took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have the guts to go through with the crazy ship I told you guys about but all you Kellex shippers should be happy after this chapter XD


	9. The Morning After

Alex and Kelley had spent the night cuddling in bed, but with Alex’s leg still hurting from her injury, they didn’t take it any further than that. As Alex woke up, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. What the hell was she doing? She still had feelings for Tobin, how in the world could she be dating Kelley O’Hara of all people? And if they had a fight and broke up, would they still be able to be friends?

But Kelley, she was so happy, happier than Alex had ever seen her… Alex didn’t have the heart to tell her about her worries, or even to wake her up right now.   
It turns out she wouldn’t have to worry about waking Kelley up, Pinoe would do a good job of that for them. She burst into the room, not bothering to knock, with Syd close behind her. “Did you guys hear? WE’RE GOING BEAR HUNTING!”

“What the hell…?” muttered Alex, rolling over to face Pinoe. “Knock next time, alright?”

Pinoe rolled her eyes and ignored the second remark. “UCLA won last night, we’re playing them tomorrow. You guys better get up, the flight to San Fran is pretty soon."

Pinoe was either oblivious to the fact that Alex and Kelley had been cuddling, or she was doing a good job of ignoring it. “Yeah, fine,” sighed Alex, sitting up. “Did you guys seriously stay up past midnight watching that game?”

“And you didn’t?” asked Sydney, smirking. “What were you guys doing in bed then?”

Alex’s face went red, and she opened her mouth to say some witty comeback but nothing came to her mind. Kelley was blushing too, but she was the one who spoke up. “Alex was cold so I helped warm her up, that’s all,” she said, and Syd just smirked some more. Kelley knew that Alex might not want to tell everyone about them being a couple yet, which was why she made up a story.

“I think you were warming each other up,” laughed Sydney, making Alex blush more. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Well, unless someone pays for it.”

\-----

Other than being best friends, one thing that made Alex and Kelley’s relationship awkward was that Kelley was Alex’s backup. As they practiced in San Francisco before the game the next night, Kelley came to Alex with a request about that. “Hey Lex… Could you not play tonight?”

Alex stared at her like she had asked something ridiculous, which she had. “It’s our most important game yet, why wouldn’t I play?”

Kelley frowned, hoping Alex would understand what she was playing at. “You aren’t completely better from that injury and I was hoping that…”

Her voice trailed, and Alex sighed and folded her arms. “You were hoping what?”

“I was hoping that I could start for once,” she blurted out, and Alex was both surprised and not surprised, all at once. Kelley had only started when Alex was injured, and Alex played way more minutes than her. She couldn’t blame her for wanting to play, but the competitive side of her told her that she couldn’t sit out this game just so Kelley could play. 

Maybe dating her backup actually wasn’t such a good idea. A couple days ago they had rushed into this, Alex wanting to have a girlfriend so she could mend her broken ego, and so she could maybe get over Tobin, and Kelley being happy that her best friend returned her feelings. 

They had rushed in without thinking of how this would affect the team, and now worries began to creep into her mind. 

“I’m sorry, Kell,” she said calmly. “I know I’m not one hundred percent, but I have to play tonight. I’ll make it up to you some other way.”

“That’s what I thought,” muttered Kelley, before turning and walking away, hanging her head dejectedly. 

When Alex looked around, she realized that some of her teammates had been watching the exchange between the two, including Carli and Tobin. Carli was watching like a hawk, and Tobin looked just as interested. Could they see that Alex and Kelley were together now? Had their body language or the way they spoke changed somehow, giving away their feelings? 

Carli said something to Tobin before approaching Alex, her face unreadable. "Some friend you are," she said coldly. "Dating your best friend just to make a girl who's already taken jealous."

Alex's jaw dropped, and she was wondering how Carli had found out. She must have been acting more obvious than she thought. "T-t-that's not why we're together," she replied, even though it was part of the reason why. 

"Yeah right. Tell that to Kelley, after she realizes that you're using her to make Tobin jealous," scoffed Carli. 

"What are you trying to prove?" Alex asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Really, what do you have against me?"

"I'm saying Tobin is mine, it's not going to make her like you if you start acting like you're in love with-"

Before Carli could finish, Alex sent her to the ground with a hard punch in the mouth. Alex's own eyes widened as she realized what she had did, and she turned and ran before Carli or anyone else could say anything. The only one who went after her was Hope, but as she left the building and headed to her car, Hope seemed to lose track of her. 

Alex got into her car and leaned back, holding her face in her hands as she began to cry. How had things with her and Carli gotten this bad? They had been friends, good friends even, and now they were almost flat out enemies. It was because Carli had the one person that Alex wanted, Tobin. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Hope approaching her, climbing into the passenger seat of the car. "You want to skip town before the rest of the team gets mad at you for what just happened? Just the two of us?" Hope asked, seemingly oblivious to Alex's dejected and depressed state.

"Where are we going to go, even?" Alex asked, knowing that they still had a game in the night. 

"Let's go for a drive to San Jose or something. That should give you enough time to explain what's going on," Hope answered. And for some reason, some reason Alex couldn't put a finger on, she actually said yes.


	10. Bear Hunting

"Alright, Morgan. Start from the beginning. What made you and Carli turn into flat out enemies suddenly?" Hope asked, as Alex drove. They were on the interstate-280 highway heading southbound towards San Jose. The route was pretty scenic, but Hope looked like she was enjoying it more than Alex.

"She started dating Tobin," Alex said flatly. "And I only found out when I walked in on them fucking each other."

"Just that?"

"She also took my spot," Alex sighed. "My spot as the star of the team. Coach... She just forgot about me after I got hurt, she has no loyalty."

"At least she isn't like my old coach. I got thrown off the team for drunk driving once," Hope replied. 

"I heard you ran drugs in high school, is that right?" Alex asked, switching the subject. 

"I won't dispute it. But I rarely kept the money. Always gave most of it to my teammates who needed it more," admitted Hope. “Some of them needed it and it’s not like I had another way of getting cash.”

Alex was surprised by that, Hope didn’t seem like the type to give money to her teammates. But then again, a lot of things about Hope surprised her. The grey eyed girl was definitely more than she seemed, and Alex liked that about her. “But your coaches didn’t like it still?”

“No, but me and my coaches never see eye to eye. They don’t understand me,” Hope sighed. “Or know me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a coach that really knows me.”

“But-”

“Enough about me, let’s get back to your problem. So you want to get Tobin to like you, over Carli? But they’re already dating?”

“Yeah, and there’s no way Tobin breaks it off,” Alex replied as she remembered her last conversation with Tobin. 

“So if you still like her, why are you dating Kelley? To make her jealous? Because that’s unfair to Kelley.”

“What? I… I wouldn’t do something like that. I like both of them. I just thought I would be able to get over Tobin if I was with someone else, but now I feel like I actually want her more,” Alex said. “And she’s my best friend, I don’t want to dump her for Tobin and hurt her.”

Hope rolled her eyes, leaning back dramatically. “Real life doesn’t work like this, you can’t just date your best friend and keep lusting over someone else. That’s never going to work. You have to pick somebody.”

“Why can’t I have both of them?” Alex asked genuinely, wanting to know what would be so wrong about that. She knew it was frowned upon, but was it totally impossible for it to work out?

“Jealousy, Alex. It might work for like a week and then both of them are going to get jealous and make you choose,” explained Hope. “Trust me on this one. So who do you want more, Kelley or Tobin?”

“I don’t know!” Alex said frustratedly. “I’ll figure it out another time… I have too much to worry about with the game tonight.”

Hope seemed to nod and she closed her eyes, putting the radio on and relaxing as the two drove. She knew that Alex needed to calm down to play well, so she was going to try and help her do just that. “This is why I’m single,” she muttered to herself, and Alex chuckled.

“Life would be so much easier that way… Or if polygamy was a thing still.”

\-----

UCLA had kicked the proverbial shit out of Louisville in the first half, but after clawing back, they had tied the game and sent it to overtime. “We can’t keep winning this way,” sighed Carli, in the huddle. “Late in the game, or in overtime. We need to close teams out.”

“We’re lucky they weren’t the ones doing the closing out,” Alex muttered. “Just give me the ball and make space, let me do my thing.”

That was what they did with thirty seconds left in overtime. Alex had the ball and she moved down the court slowly, watching the clock. They could hold, but she wanted to make sure there would be time for one more shot if she missed. But then she saw her chance, and she focused all her energy into exploding out of a dribble move and cutting around the defender, charging to the rim and throwing up a floater that rolled around the rim before going in. She didn’t even celebrate, she just stared down Carli as UCLA called a timeout.

“That was amazing!” Kelley said, hugging Alex, but she pushed her away lightly.

“It’s not over yet,” Alex said simply, as UCLA broke their huddle and returned to the court. 

Yes, it wasn’t over yet. Louisville was being pushed to their limit by a better team again, and they didn’t know if they would be able to hold on. But Alex wasn’t going to let them lose. So much was riding on this game, she had to make sure that they won. UCLA was holding for the last shot, and with twelve seconds left, their point guard drove to the hoop, closely followed by Alex. Alex managed to get a finger on her layup, sending the ball straight up into the air, and when the others jumped for it, Hope came down with it and landed with a thud on the hard court, dropping the ball. “Are you alright?” Alex asked.

“Get the fucking ball!” Hope shouted, and Alex realized that the game was still going. She went to the floor for it, colliding with a UCLA player in the process, which made her knee hurt even more. But she managed to get her hands on it and she passed it to Tobin, who passed to Kelley to run the clock out as the buzzer sounded. Louisville had escaped with a 124-122 win after overtime. 

As Alex got up, Kelley jumped into her arms, almost making her fall over. “We did it… We actually did it. Now we get a shot at Maryland in the Sweet Sixteen.”

“We’ll beat them, Kell, we beat Baylor and UCLA so we can beat anybody,” Alex said, holding Kelley close to her body. Eventually she would have to return to the issue of if she liked Kelley or Tobin. But for now, she wanted this moment to never end.


	11. Last Night

As Alex awoke on the morning after the game, she felt a strange sensation when she realized Kelley was curled up next to her, still asleep. She wasn’t used to waking up next to someone, especially not someone who she considered her best friend.

“Lex,” Kelley muttered softly, startling the shit out of Alex. She wasn’t asleep after all. “Why did we stop?”

Kelley was referring to last night, where things had gotten hot and heavy in the celebration of the win. Alex and Kelley had been in their room making out, but when Kelley tried to take things further, Alex stopped her, using a vague excuse about being too tired. That wasn’t the full story. Sure, she had been tired, but there was more to it than that. She wouldn’t feel right taking things any further when she still had feelings for Tobin, when she still found herself thinking about Tobin when Kelley was being romantic with her. 

“We were both sore from the game,” Alex said, hoping her voice didn’t betray that she was lying. “It’s even worse now, I feel like I ran into a brick wall.”

Kelley sighed, but it seemed like she understood. “Playing forty minutes in a game will make you feel that way,” she chuckled, moving slightly closer to Alex. “OT is especially rough…”

“Overtime is a bitch,” groaned Alex, closing her eyes. With all these late finishes to games, whether they be by last second shot or by overtime, were taking a toll on her. She wasn’t able to finish out games on the bench like earlier in the season, and her body was punishing her for it. 

“You’ve got me to take care of you, though,” Kelley stated with a grin, kissing Alex on the cheek. “Perks of being the backup, I didn’t have to play in overtime like you did.”

“We should trade places next game,” muttered Alex, before checking her phone and seeing that Hope had sent her a text asking her if she was up for some early training. As sore and tired as she was, she knew that Hope would be pissed if she said no, so she sent back a reply saying that she would meet her outside in a few minutes. “Sorry, Kell. You know how Hope gets if I don’t work out with her.”

“I know, just don’t go too hard and mess up your knee,” Kelley warned as Alex got up and changed into her athletic clothes, before heading quickly out the door to meet Hope.

\-----

“Hey, Morgan,” Hope said, waving to Alex when she approached her outside of the hotel. “Ready to go for a jog?”

“Jogging? Are you trying to kill me?” Alex sighed, wondering if it was possible for her to complete a jog in her tired state. “I thought we were just going to shoot three pointers?”

“The practice court is too busy,” shrugged Hope, smiling slightly. “I think you can handle it, have some faith in yourself.”

Alex rolled her eyes, following Hope as she started to run. “I’m serious, Hope. You’re not the one who had to play for forty minutes last night, there’s no way I’m going to keep up with you.”

Hope decided to change the subject, maybe to distract Alex from how tired she was. “How are things with you and Kelley… And Tobin?” she asked, pausing before asking about Tobin. 

“I feel bad for liking both of them,” Alex admitted, looking down. “Kelley was all over me last night, but I turned her down because it wouldn't feel right since I still like Tobin. I don’t think she’s mad about it though, I kind of lied about why I turned her down and said it was because I was tired.”

“You did the right thing, to be honest,” Hope replied. “Just be careful, Alex. Don’t break Kelley’s heart, especially in the middle of the tournament. She doesn’t need more distractions.”

“I don't want to do that,” sighed Alex, “But it might happen, I'm afraid she's going to catch on and find out that I don't only have eyes for her.”

As they ran, Alex stumbled and tripped, letting herself fall to the sidewalk, rolling over on her back, exhausted. “I can't do this. I'm too tired and sore.”

Hope stared down at Alex, before extending a hand to help pull her up. “Fine, you’re only going to slow me down… You want to grab some coffee and rest up?”

“The nearest coffee place is like a block away,” Alex stated as she leaned on Hope slightly for support. “Can I just sit down and rest for a bit?”

Hope had a blank expression on her face, like she was deciding what to do, and then in one motion she quickly lifted Alex in her arms, straining under her weight. “You’re heavier than you look. You might want to work out more before next game…”

Alex grinned, deciding to let Hope hold her. “I wouldn’t expect a shooting guard to be able to lift me,” she laughed. “I might have to work out, but you need to hit the weights.”

“Will do… Right after we get this coffee.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being slow updating, I was pretty sick this week. I'm back now!


End file.
